


consider this

by alsahm



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Black Eagle Spoilers, Non-binary character, Other, Vampires?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 03:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20557808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alsahm/pseuds/alsahm
Summary: "I gotta know," Caspar says, eyes wide with fear, curiosity, pleading. And as Byleth draws a breath, ready to recite thewhy Hubertthey drafted weeks ago, what comes out of Caspar's mouth makes them freeze: "He's a vampire, right?"





	consider this

**Author's Note:**

> sorry mom im love hubert. vaguely post-ish black eagles.
> 
> edit 9/17/19! changed pronouns to make byleth nb :')

Black cat's outta the bag; it takes maybe a day before Caspar's in front of their desk, contorted to jab his foot directly into his mouth. "Teach," he says, "I gotta know."

Byleth took Seteth's old office because their father's still teems too much with the ghost of him, and between the two phantoms it became their duty to disappoint, they chose the company of the former aide to the archbishop. They feel like Seteth when t hey say, carefully, "Before a teacher's desk is indeed a good place for knowledge."

It's also a good place for other things—which, incidentally, were not the reason why they chose this office but quickly became a benefit of it—and—well. Black cat. Poor Ferdinand. A bag lost in the wind. 

And now, Caspar.

"I _gotta _know," he says again, eyes wide with fear, curiosity, pleading. And as Byleth draws a breath, ready to recite the _why him _they drafted weeks ago, what comes out of Caspar's mouth makes them freeze: "He's a vampire, right? _Right_?"

"A… what?"

"Vampire!" Caspar says again, swinging his arms with some frustration, then looking in all directions as if the unspoken were hiding in the rafters. "It's—it's, like, a human, but with fangs, and they draw blood and bite and—"

"I know what it is," says Byleth, which puts an end to Caspar's rambling, but still he looks at them with anxiety, the kind that puts a crook in one's neck and clearly speaks to Caspar's not being the only prying party.

"Right," he says. "Um, of course you do. Sorry, I'll just… go."

"No," they say, schooling their bewilderment, "it's fine. This is… concerning Hubert?"

"Who else!" he bursts, before a calmer, "Um. Yeah, it is."

Byleth nods, considers. Then they say, "I don't... actually know."

"You—you don't—" 

"Caspar—"

"You don't _know_?! Ferdinand saw you like—and you don't—"

Byleth stands. Caspar jumps.

"Not yet," they say. "But I'll go ask."

"ASK?!"

* * *

Bernadetta squeaks so loudly when they leave the office that the owls nesting in the corridor flutter away, which of course hastens her screaming. Thereafter she apologizes rapidly enough that it's difficult to understand her, but after much assurances that no one is angry—plus three cups of steaming tea—a couple points are gathered. First, that Bernadetta heard from Caspar about certain happenings in what-was-once-Seteth's office, which Caspar had heard from Petra who'd heard from Ferdinand (Byleth knew not enough shame to blush). 

Second, that Bernadetta shared with Caspar her immediate distress: her budding theory that Hubert, and indeed all Vestras, are vampires, or some similar creature of the dark. 

Also, she's gained a new fear of saying his name. Byleth does not begrudge this; more than once they have found him around the corner seconds after saying his name, or, indeed, thinking about him too loudly. A vampiric summoning or animal transformation sounds increasingly plausible.

"But what I'm not getting," says Caspar, spraying crumbs from his stale baguette, "is Edelgard trusts him with, like, _everything_. If he's… you know..."

"M-Maybe Her Majesty doesn't know," suggests Bernadetta. Her expression cycles between fear and interest, then lingers on what must be the desire to hole up in her room and ignore this all entirely. Byleth puts a hand on hers, trying for a comforting smile.

"Should I just ask?" 

Bernadetta pales. "Y-You can't!"

"Why not?"

"I-If he's a vampire, you can't trust him! At least, I don't think so, b-because…"

Frowning, Byleth withdraws their hand. "I trust Hubert." It took time on either side but the devotion, however unlikely, did manifest, and resultantly Hubert is more brutally honest with them than he is mischievous with others. The drama is still there, but nothing like the calculated deceit with which he services his charge ("There are many things I do for Lady Edelgard that it does not benefit her to know," he said once, to which Byleth asked, "Myself included?", and he decided, "Hmm"). 

Byleth is quite fond.

This all seems to concern Bernadetta and Caspar more than anything said prior.

"Wait, alright," says Caspar, clearing his throat. "Hang on. I got an idea. My idea has head medicine."

* * *

Linhardt considers. "Well, he's not exactly a looker, is he? And he does seem to age, and go into the sun without burning—"

Bernadetta shakes her head with ferocity. "B-But think about it! All that black, and he's s-so good at magic, and what's—what's _his _reason for hating the church so bad?"

"_Do _let me finish," says Linhardt, "it does so tire me to be interrupted." He pauses to wipe the sleep from his eyes; they found him napping in the library with old ink transferred to his cheek. "I have read _some _lore on the creatures being perfectly able to walk among us. Then they spread propaganda to create false notions of safety."

Bernadetta shrieks and hides behind Caspar, feeling decidedly unsafe from Linhardt's words.

Linhardt continues as if uninterrupted. "Professor, purely from a scientific perspective, I _do _have some questions, most promptly, what the fuck? Vampire or not, with what fourth and fifth dimensions has the goddess gifted your eyes?"

Five years ago as they grew acquainted with their own humanity Byleth spoke with Seteth about love, and he admitted with some nostalgia that the beloved, in the eyes of their beholder, grows somehow more beautiful, a reflection of that pure emotion which somehow joins souls. This must be their case because even Hubert's glowing bat eyes and eternal smell of coffee are now pleasant to them, and the longer this goes on the less strange it seems that it should ever have happened.

"Adoration, perhaps."

"Adoration?" repeats Linhardt, wrinkling his nose. "You know, I am starting to think this creature-of-the-dark idea has some plausibility, considering you certainly seem bewitched. _Adoration_?"

As if this proves it Caspar points excitedly at Linhardt, saying, "See! See! There's gotta be something, there's no way someone like the Professor would—"

They're shushed, then, because after all it is a library, and as Linhardt ushers them out Byleth frowns more deeply, cut by their collective determination to damn their beau. Fortunately, silence is in their nature.

* * *

Then they just ask.

Hubert laughs and laughs and laughs, more than they've ever heard him do before, and in his good humor they curl more comfortably into his cape. 

"You didn't answer," they note.

"Do you have a guess? It does rather amuse me to keep everyone guessing."

They consider, poking at his cheeks and pulling at his face; Hubert allows this investigation without hint of a complaint. Finally they suggest, "Bite me."

He obliges. 

"So?"

"Not a vampire," they decide. Somehow it's anticlimactic. 

Hubert must read their sentiments, because he laughs again from deep inside his chest. "Are you disappointed?"

"Perhaps… a little. You go to such efforts to mislead them."

"There are some advantages to the confusion, I find." They stare at him, unblinkingly challenging the statement, to which he only smirks. "Is it my turn, now?"

"Hm?"

"There is something about which I wonder myself, but my investigations have all come up dry. Is there any truth to it, Ashen Demon?"

To which Byleth shifts, considering. "I don't actually know."

"Indeed?" He sighs, content enough. "I suppose it is rather amusing to keep one guessing."

Byleth smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> <3 thanks for reading!  
would love if you dropped a comment below or [rt'd on twitter](https://twitter.com/lumenize/status/1170492616741404673)!


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